Saturday, July 12, 2008

Perspective

One day this week, at 7 pm, my boss decided he needed a new dentist. Right then. One he could see the next morning. Don't bother trying to explain to him that dentist offices close around 5 pm like most Normal Industries outside of Hollywood. When he decides he is going to do something, he is a fricking unstoppable force. To be honest, I'm quite jealous of his determination.

I also attempted to explain to him the difference between a text message and an email, which turned out to be very difficult. See, text messages go to your phone, but if you have a blackberry, so do emails. "You can get both on your phone," I explained. "But I can only get text messages on my phone."

"What kind of phone do you have?" He asked, astounded. There are people in this world without blackberries?

Later the head of the Interactive Media Department came in to help identify the little icon that distinguishes texts from emails, and I sent my boss the message, "This is what a text message looks like."

He had a similar response when my friend and I came back into the office a little early from lunch. "Didn't you go to lunch?" he asked, similarly astounded.

"Yeah, but it was getting hot in the park," I said.

"Don't you go out to lunch?"

We laughed. "We're assistants," my friend said.

"We make pennies."

"You don't go out to lunch?" It was as if we never blinked or something.

And once again I realized that the older and richer you get, the less you have to know about life. The technology is one thing; he was an agent before computers were invented, so I have to let that go a little. And he really does try to learn, which is cute. Plus, he knows how to conference phone lines, which is sort of impressive. But this man probably has no idea how to do laundry or put gas in his car. I bet he hasn't made his own lunch in 35 years.

Part of me wants to have people do all the little stuff for me someday. I mean, imagine how easy life would be...but I feel like I would kind of lose touch with humanity, you know?

Though if "humanity" resides in all the crappy apartments I've been looking at this week, peace out. Bring on the money and the minions.

It can be funny to see how clueless someone is about this or that. I never studied computers at school so it's been a stretch the last twenty years!

But the thing is, we're all clueless about a lot. That's why a company is a TEAM. You can do stuff your boss can't while he can do some things you and I can't. You play to your strengths. Each person does what they can and makes trades with others so that we can all get by.

When I see that I can do something somebody else can't or I know something they don't, I just help them out. It's just automatic now. They need the help, I do what I can. And the (hidden) reward is, that they know something I don't and are probably helping me along and I don't realize it.

Amanda, did you vet this post with your boss first? It's certainly not overly critical, but I was curious if your boss was cool enough that he would say, "Sure, call me techno-autistic with a side of pampered."

I think the best thing you can do is, don't forget this when you're rich and successful. So many people have a frat (or sorority) house mentality, that the pain is a hazing which should be passed on from generation to generation.

TL, you're right. I haven't worked in the entertainment industry, but a-hole bosses exist every where. I've had a number of them. Try out the Fitness Industry; those guys are the king-shits of a-holes. We have to accept them, but let's call a spade a spade. No?

Used to work at a talent agency, and went through the same BS. The head agent would walk around and comment that we should be paying him for the excellent education in business we were getting. He was SO OLD I don't know if he was kidding. At $7/hr it kind of doesn't matter.

The dues we pay right?

Now that I'm out of there, if I achieve ANY measure of success, I hope I remember not to become that. I hope that d-bag cycle dies with me...

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AMANDA, blog creator

Amanda is a professional screenwriter and studio script reader who started this blog when she moved to LA in 2007. Before launching a weird freelance life, she worked her way up from the mailroom to a feature lit desk at a talent agency. She writes features and TV scripts about awesome ladies.

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